


Master Of Monsters

by Rosedraquia



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Overlord - Maruyama Kugane & Related Fandoms
Genre: Character Development, Character Study, F/F, F/M, Gen, Like lots of it, Master of Death, Master of Death Harry Potter, OP Harry, OP most of the characters, but thats canon, relationship tags will change as things develop, tags in general will change, tbh
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-25
Updated: 2019-03-08
Packaged: 2019-06-16 07:20:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15431889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rosedraquia/pseuds/Rosedraquia
Summary: When Harry is summoned across dimensions once again, he's expecting more of the same. Nothing could have prepared him for Nazarick, the loyalty of those who swear by it's name, or the mystery surrounding the whole dimension in the first place. Finally, after so long, he's getting to experience something new. With all the good and bad that entails.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> So I haven't written anything in six years or so, which should be a bit of a warning to you guys. I got blindsided by inspiration when it came to this in a way that hasn't happened to me for a long time, so I'm going to get as much out as I can while the fire's burning.  
> You can thank the lovely dEBB987 for their wonderful story 'The Master of Death in Nazarik', which was honestly a huge inspiration when it came to this story. At this point the two stories aren't really anything alike, other than Harry being MOD and ending up the ruler of Nazarick. The rest is my take on it. Thank you so much for lending me those two points upon which I could expand into my own story dEBB987!  
> In any case, for all those who love Overlord and everything it's doing, here's to you.  
> Enjoy!

Demiurge looked over the denizens of Nazarick as they all gathered in the Amphitheatre, finding their places.

It had been a long month as they all slowly realised that the last of the Supreme Beings, Momonga-sama, had finally left them like the others. They didn’t know what had changed, why he wasn’t coming back. In all their time serving him and the others, he was the only one who always turned up at least twice a week, like clock-work.  
But no more.

He was gone, like the others, and they didn’t know what to do with themselves. They had been created purely to serve, with no one to obey, they were lost.

To make matters worse, something had clearly happened. They didn’t know if this was the reason Momonga-sama hadn’t returned to them, but they had clearly moved somehow. Where before The Great Tomb of Nazarick had been located in the poison marshes of Helheim, now it appeared to be in a grassland somewhere.

“We’re nearly ready.”

Demiurge turned to look at Albedo and Shalltear as they walked to him from where they had been organising everyone in the centre of the Amphitheatre. Pushing his glasses up he turned his gaze to where every single one of those who served Nazarick had organised themselves in a large semicircle around the ritual circle he had spent hours digging through the top layer of dirt into the stone floor beneath.

“Good. Let’s all get into place, soon we will have a Supreme Being to serve once more!” He finished his sentence on a shout, so that the others could all hear, to which there was a roar of approval from all those gathered.

Spinning on his heel, he and 6 of the other floor guardians moved to the opposite side of the circle. The only floor guardian not present was Gargantua, as he was a golem and could only be commanded by a Supreme Being.

“Prepare yourselves everyone, we cannot faulter or misspeak a single syllable if we want the ritual to work!”

Glancing at the others to his left and right Demiurge couldn’t help a slight smirk at the building glee in everyone’s eyes. They had been left too long to their own devices, the thought of managing to summon a Supreme Being, even if in the worst case scenario it wasn’t one of their 41, had completely renewed all their spirits.

He knew they needn’t worry, with all their power combined into one ritual, how could they fail to summon anything less than the strongest Supreme Being to rule them?

Turning his attention to the circle they all stood around, he quickly ran his eyes over the symbols one last time before clapping his hands together,

“Alright everyone! Begin in 3…2…1”

As one their voices lifted, speaking the ritual words he had practiced with all of them in preparation for this moment. For such an important ritual, it wasn’t a long one, but he could understand how it couldn’t be more complicated when the wind started to pick up, whipping their hair and clothes as a sudden miniature cyclone sprung up around them.

They could all feel it as they made it half-way through the ritual, the building power, the heavy atmosphere, it began to press down upon them as if an actual physical weight had been draped over their shoulders.

It didn’t surprise Demiurge in the slightest that not one of the 55 beings currently speaking stumbled even for a second. This was done in the name of Nazarick, so that they might have a leader once again, there was no room for failure.

And then they came to the end of the ritual, and as the last line was spoken in 55 voices the air itself seemed to crack, lights shining through the cracks like a windowpane had been smashed. With a sound like lightning striking the cracked air shattered outwards, air gusting past them with a fearsome sound and the entire 200-meter space briefly lighting up with pure white light.

And then it stopped, and in its place stood a man at the centre of the circle, looking right at Demiurge before glancing to his left and right at the other guardians arrayed before him.

“Well,” he sighed, seeming slightly put out, “this is just great.”

For a moment there was silence, then Albedo said what they had all been thinking but had been too shocked to say,

“Whaaat?! He’s _human_!”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here's the next one. The first chapter was just a Prologue, so this is significantly longer! Enjoy XD
> 
> Just as a side note, I just looked up the timeline and realised I have royally f-ed it by having them delay summoning Harry for a month, so lets just ignore that why don't we? They all waited for a month, but I'm taking Author's Prerogative(TM), and saying the Overlord timeline didn't start until Harry arrived.
> 
> Mmmkay? Mmkay.
> 
> Please let me know what you guys think. I haven't written for a very long time, so any constructive criticism is always welcome.
> 
> Now please, go ahead, and I hope you enjoy the direction I'm taking this in!

Being summoned had a particular feel to it, similar to a port-key or translocating, a sensation like something was locking onto you, hooking into your soul and then yanking. Hard.

It wasn’t pleasant, and Harry didn’t enjoy it.

That being said, it did raise his interest slightly. There was only one way to summon him, and the situations that arose because of it could be interesting. Sometimes. Rarely.

Letting the sensation flow over him, Harry accepted it. Had no choice but to accept it really. He couldn’t stop the summoning itself, but if he didn’t like why he was being summoned…well then, someone was going to very briefly regret their life choices.

The world blurred around him, twisting into a riot of colours before he hit what felt like a flexible wall, the yanking sensation becoming briefly stronger before he burst through and was abruptly surrounded by darkness. So he was being summoned between dimensions? That was certainly better than being summoned in the same universe. Those were inevitably less interesting.

The darkness only lasted for moments before he hit another wall that shattered outwards into bright light, enough to have temporarily blinded him if he hadn’t been prepared and closed his eyes, and then everything abruptly stopped and Harry found himself standing in what appeared to be a large Coliseum.

Directly in front of him where a few diverse, blatantly in-human beings. That definitely shortened the list of why he had probably been summoned. Looks like this was going to be pretty standard.

“Well” he sighed, he had just gotten to the good part of one of his favourite books as well, “this is just great.”

There was an almost customary silence as they all realised that the summoning had worked before the winged female near the middle of the group abruptly burst out with,

“Whaaaat? He’s human!”

Not a response he was used to, though it wasn’t out of the realms of possibility.

At her exclamation there was sounds of movement and hushed talking behind him. Harry glanced over his shoulder only for his eyebrows to raise slightly.

He hadn’t quite expected that.

Behind him was what appeared to be an incredibly diverse number of beings. Some looked human, but the vast majority seemed to be creatures and humanoid beings. And of course, based on her statement, he was pretty sure even the ones who looked human were actually something else.

He looked back to the one who spoke, a being that appeared female with horns on her head and black wings that sprouted from her waist. Even as he watched she spun to the side, gesturing at a man in a suit who had what appeared to be a long metallic tail.

“Demiurge! You said this ritual would summon a Supreme Being, not a _human_!”

Well that’s speciest.

At that the talking and shuffling behind him increased, but six of those closest to him all looked to the man who raised a hand and pushed his glasses up.

“This _is_ a ritual to summon a Supreme Being, I know I am not wrong, therefore this must be a Supreme Being who is also human.”

His tone said that he was not happy with that fact.

Harry, on the other hand, had been paying less attention to his words and more the movements of his lips.

His lips matched the words he was speaking, which meant that the translation rune he had etched onto the back of his neck the second time he was summoned somewhere that didn’t speak a language he knew, didn’t need to translate their words into something he could understand. They were speaking a language he knew.

He was briefly tempted to get rid of it, so he could hear what language they were actually speaking, but on the off chance it was one of the more ancient or obscure languages he hadn’t heard in a while, he didn’t want to prevent himself understanding exactly what they were saying.

“Well I refuse to obey a human Supreme Being, we should do the ritual again!”

This was spoken by a beautiful young woman with flowing white hair. She would have appeared completely human if it wasn’t for her red eyes and fangs. A vampire? But not similar to any of the vampires he’d come across, she almost seemed more like the stereotypes described in various entertainment media.

“Agreed.” Two voices said at the same time, one from a giant insectoid creature and another from what appeared to be a human butler.

“We’ll deal with you in a moment.”

The original female said this to him threateningly, which seemed to be a cue for most of those in the room to quiet and bend their heads.

Harry glanced down at the ritual circle etched into the stone and smiled slightly before spreading his hands.

“Of course, please try your ritual again.”

This got him a number of suspicious looks, while the vampire gave him a haughty look.

“We hardly need _your_ permission, just stay quiet and maybe we’ll get rid of you quickly.”

Harry’s smile became slightly more real, but he simply clasped his hands behind his back and took a couple of steps to the left.

They continued to glare at him for a moment before the man, Demiurge (he couldn’t place his species, that tail could be indicative of any number he had come across over the years, though he would admit he had never seen this exact variety before) cleared his throat and raised his voice so all those in the large room could hear him.

“We shall redo the ritual, begin in 3…2…1.”

With that all the beings in the arena began chanting the ritual words and Harry couldn’t help raising his eyebrows again.

Only one person was needed to summon the Master of Death. In fact, one person was ideal. If there were more people in the ritual, and even one of them had a different goal in mind than the others, then the ritual would either fail or go very wrong. There were at least 50 beings in this room and they were all performing the ritual at once.

Harry had never seen anything like it.

Then again, he had never had anyone be so unhappy with his species that they decided to retry the ritual completely either. Normally they were simply happy they managed to summon the Master of Death at all, regardless of his species. Maybe this wouldn’t be as standard as he had assumed.

It didn’t take long before they completed the verbal incantation, a wind kicking up slightly, their voices rising, several of them finishing on a shout.

Again Harry felt the effects of the summon, but this time he didn’t even have time to see swirling colours before he was abruptly back in the centre of the ritual circle.

This time everything remained deathly quiet as the beings stared at him. It was kind of funny.

Harry grinned at them, “Well this is awkward.”

They didn’t seem to know what to say to that, so Harry finally decided to take the initiative.

“My name is Harry, I am the Master of Death, may I ask why you’ve summoned me?”

That garnered some reactions as a few beings began whispering amongst themselves behind him, while those seven immediately in-front of him still seemed at a bit of a loss.

None of them had really reacted to his title. Curiouser and curiouser. Maybe they didn’t know what they had really summoned? They seem to have misunderstood exactly what this ritual was meant to do.

Well, this could either go well, or really quite badly.

For them.

Finally the winged female glanced at Demiurge,

“What do we do now? The ritual only seems able to summon this human.”

Still identifying him by his species even after he had given them his name? Rude.

Looking around, it seemed her question had again managed to catch everyone’s attention, a lot of them growing remarkably despondent.

The fact he was human really seemed to bother them. They must have truly bad relations with humans on this world.

“I am unsure.”

Demiurge seemed truly nonplussed, seeming to stare hard at Harry before turning his gaze to all those around him.

“We may have to…make do.”

Well _that_ got a reaction, largely negative, as there was an outcry from all around him. Harry was beginning to feel slightly surrounded.

Not that it mattered.

Perhaps it was time to even the playing field a bit? Expanding his senses to encompass the room, Harry _froze_.

These beings…no, it couldn’t be, this had never happened before. Pushing his senses out further, and then further still…

It was true. Not a single being in 50 miles had a soul.

All those around him, everything in his immediate range, they weren’t real.

How could that even be possible? He could clearly see them, they were reacting like real beings with thoughts and emotions…

Maybe an illusion?

 _Hominum reveleo_.

Turning slowly, Harry watched as every being in the room lit up a light blue in his sight, including a number of spider like beings clinging to the walls he hadn’t noticed before.

Catching the eyes of one the beings dressed in a maid uniform he cast Legilimency and pushed forward just far enough to hear, “- _going to do? They can’t expect me to serve a_ human _, even if he_ is _a Supreme Being_.”

Withdrawing from her mind Harry frowned.

So they have thoughts, emotions, personalities, but didn’t have souls? That must mean they are artificial beings then. Harry had come across artificial beings before, but never one’s as complex and varied as the group before him. This was completely new. Something he had never seen before.

 _Wonderful_.

By all that had magic, he was almost giddy. He hadn’t experienced anything completely new in so long he had actually literally forgotten what it was like.

Was it just the beings around him, or was it the entire dimension? Were there no trees and animals within 50 miles? He may not be able to feel their souls, but he should still be able to feel their life-forces. Yet nothing.

Now _this_ , this was absolutely worth being dragged away from his current favourite book.

His musings were interrupted by a furious,

“You expect me to _make do_ Demiurge? I will not serve a human. I will not serve someone who is weaker than me. I _refuse to_.”

Turning back to the seven, Harry eyed the woman who had spoken. There it was again. Why did they keep talking about potentially serving him? In his experience, those who summoned the Master of Death did not do so in anticipation of serving him. It was usually the complete opposite in fact.

“Well what do you suggest we do instead Shalltear? We are rapidly running out of options, and regardless of his species he must still be a Supreme Being for the ritual to have worked.”

“I don’t care!” The vampire, Shalltear, shouted. “I’m not the only one who thinks so, hell you probably think so too Demiurge! We are _monsters_ , we don’t serve humans, we play with them, we torment them, we _eat them_!”

There was a general rumble of agreement from around him, even Demiurge grimaced and tilted his head in acknowledgement.

Well, that could be a problem. Harry may be old as balls and his morals may have become flexible to a large degree after all this time, but there were lines he had that he refused to ever cross. Or to let anyone else cross for that matter. If he came across people who crossed those lines, they better have a damn good reason (and sometimes not even then) or he would kill them. Simple.

“…you may be right. What do you suggest then?”

That seemed to take the wind right out of her sails, as she huffed and crossed her arms, looking into the distance. Despite looking like a teenager who hadn’t got her way and refused to answer, Demiurge waited and Harry soon saw why as a slow grin crossed her lips, her red eyes lighting up with unholy glee as she looked back, clearly having had an idea.

“What if I fight him?”

The arena had already been pretty quiet, but at that the silence seemed to compound upon itself before Harry saw slow smiles, smirks and a couple out right grins from those in front of him.

“Yes. Yes, that could work out quite nicely.”

Demiurge said this slowly, pushing up his glasses before looking past Harry to those gathered behind him.

“Would that satisfy you all? If Shalltear fights this _Supreme Being_ and loses, regardless of his humanity, we will serve him.”

The silence lasted for another long moment before a few started to call out agreements and a general feeling of acceptance started to surround them.

In response Shalltear let out a vicious laugh and turned her attention to Harry,

“Well? What do you say to a little fight?”

Harry raised an eyebrow at that, clasping his hands behind his back once again,

“I’m sorry, but you all still haven’t told me why you’ve summoned me. I’m not saying no to the ‘fight’”, he couldn’t help the air quotations, privately amused, “but I would prefer to know what I’m fighting for, or if I even want to do what you wish of me in the first place.”

That seemed to stump them all for a second, before Demiurge raised his hand and coughed into it, looking slightly embarrassed.

“Yes, of course. I apologise.” The grimace that crossed his face said he really didn’t mean it, but felt he had to say it anyway.

“We,” he gestured out to everyone surrounding the ritual circle, “were attempting to summon a Supreme Being, so that they might lead us.”

Yeah, that was the impression Harry had gotten. Which, as he had thought before, was a bit weird.

“Why do you want someone to lead you? You all seem pretty capable yourselves, surely you could pick someone amongst yourselves and follow them rather than summoning a ‘Supreme Being’ to do it for you.”

It seemed like a perfectly reasonable statement for Harry to make, yet it sparked a rush of furious whispers behind him and several displeased looks from those in front of him. Demiurge grimaced and shook his head before explaining,

“We, all of us, were created by the 41 Supreme Beings with the sole purpose of serving them. Unfortunately, the last of the Supreme Beings seems to have finally left us as of a month ago. We hoped that by using this ritual, we could summon one of them back so that they may lead us, or, barring that, that they may give us orders to follow in their absence. We had presumed that by using all our combined power, we would be able to summon the strongest of those who created us, Lord Momonga, the leader of all 41 Supreme Beings.”

Literally everything Demiurge had just said was interesting. So they had all been created by 41 ‘Supreme Beings’? And these beings were able to come and go from this dimension? Was the dimension itself artificial? That would perhaps explain his inability to sense even the faintest life-force in the nearby area. Then there was the fact that these ‘beings’ had created at least 50 artificial life-forms, ones so real that Harry hadn’t even noticed they were artificial until he was actively looking for their souls.

Harry saw the winged female open her mouth to say something and raised a hand to stop her,

“Please give me a moment to think.” She looked a bit disgruntled, but nevertheless stayed quiet.

Looking into the distance, Harry contemplated his options. Staying here was starting to look a fair bit more appealing. Not that leaving would be as easy as it usually was. There were three ways he could generally handle a summons. One, he could do whatever he had been summoned to do and upon completion he was free to go once again. Two, he could kill his summoner(s), which let him choose whether he wished to stay or go. Or, three, he could allow himself to die, upon which he was free to leave the dimension. Of course, if he picked that option then he couldn’t return until his summoners died, otherwise he was back to square one.

That last option wasn’t really one in this case. Who knew how long these beings would live? Or how long the dimension would even last? If it was artificial then who knew what might cause it to collapse. He could potentially kill his summoners, but there were at least 50 of them. Normally that wouldn’t be a problem, as he could just grasp their souls and send them to the After-Life. But they didn’t have souls. That means he would have to kill them the manual way, which he could absolutely do, but it would take time and effort and did he even really want to?

Not really. Not yet anway.

So where did that leave him?

Well it came down to two options in that case. Fight Shalltear, prove he was worthy of being their leader, and then lead them. He would have to clarify what they were looking for in a leader first, but that was certainly an option. It had the benefit of allowing him to remain in this dimension, so that he could study its magic, the artificial life-forms around him and the dimension itself. Which he wouldn’t be able to do with the other option.

If he allowed Shalltear to kill him in their ‘fight’, then he could return to the dimension he was dragged from, or alternatively somewhere else if he felt like it. That would mean he wouldn’t have to deal with leading a mixed group of amoral monsters who clearly didn’t give a shit about humans or ethics. That was clearly going to be a serious point of contention, and also something he would have to bring up if he decided to stay. Another downside of leaving, he wouldn’t be able to study this dimension for potentially a very long time, possibly at all.

So was he interested enough to deal with the mess that their clashing morality was going to cause? To lead a bunch of beings who didn’t even have souls? Did it matter that they didn’t have souls?

That last thought gave him pause.

That was something he hadn’t considered. If they didn’t have souls, but were essentially real people in every other way, then what would he do when they finally died? If he stayed long enough, and got attached, when they died they wouldn’t go to the After-Life.

That was actually a serious cause for concern.

Being the Master of Death, Harry hadn’t actually had to worry about the loss of loved ones. If he wished to spend time with them, he could simply go to the After-Life and spend an eternal blink of time with every single person he had ever known. It’s not like time passed while he was there, the After-Life was Harry’s domain, while Time was the domain of another Master. They couldn’t affect each other’s domains even if they wanted to. Or, alternatively if he did want to waste some time, he could summon the spirit of whoever he missed and spend time with them that way.

He had never actually had to worry about people dying before. Except back in the very beginning, he vaguely recalled, but it had been so long he had completely forgotten what it was like or how to deal with it.

These beings though, if he lead them, and came to love them, then he was setting himself up for some serious heart-ache.

That was very new.

He didn’t know if he liked the thought of it or not.

“ _Well_?” That was Shalltear again, looking impatient and vaguely bloodthirsty.

Go, and not have to deal with all this? Return to a life that was so predictable he hadn’t actually bothered to leave his home in a century? Return to a book he had read so many times he could possibly read it just by closing his eyes and thinking about it?

Or stay. Stay, and explore something brand new. Lead a bunch of monsters and give them purpose, while also setting himself up for a form of heartbreak he had never had to experience before?

“Very well.” Harry stated.

There had only ever really been one option in the end. The moment he realised they all didn’t have souls, he knew he was going to stay. How could he not?

Spreading his arms and allowing a slow grin to cross his face he looked Shalltear in the eyes,

“Let’s have a little ‘fight’.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone, first off thanks so much for your patience, comments and kudos. You are all amazing. I am truly surprised at the response this story has already gotten.
> 
> I also want to apologise for the wait. This chapter seriously kicked my ass. I rewrote it three times trying to do the fight justice, I wanted both Harry and Shalltear to be as true to their strengths as possible. I hadn't considered the fact I've never actually written a fight scene before, and definitely never between such strong characters. Especially when Harry is pretty much an unknown at this point. I'm still not entirely happy with the way this came out, but at this point I decided fuck it, you guys can decide if it's ok or not.  
> On the updside, this one chapter is almost double the length of everything else I've posted so far. So I hope you enjoy, and please let me know what you think. This is exactly the kind of chapter where any constructive criticism will be helpful for future reference.
> 
> Enjoy!

At his words, identical vicious grins spread across most of the faces in front of him. Demiurge bowed his head before looking to Shalltear.

“We leave this up to you then.”

Letting out another malicious laugh, she tossed her hair and backed up, staring directly at Harry the entire time.

“Don’t worry. I’ll show this human _his place_.”

The winged female cackled before turning, gesturing for the others to start moving. Those around both Harry and Shalltear all started to move to the stands of the Amphitheatre, some taking long inhuman leaps, others flying, a fair few just running up the walls. It was quite a sight.

“Is there anything you want to say before you die, human?”

There were so many quotes Harry could say to such a stereotypical line that he was briefly overwhelmed for choice, before finally shrugging and saying his standard fall back,

“No. You?”

That got him a nice scowl before Shalltear obviously shrugged it off and instead raised a hand and snapped her fingers. As Harry watched her dress morphed into blood-red armour that covered her from head to toe. Large white wings sprouted from her back, and a wickedly sharp lance appeared in her hand attached by a cord to her back. Harry couldn’t help raising his eyebrows, wondering if she had transfigured her dress, the armour had been summoned from somewhere else or if something else had happened completely.

“I’ll give you a minute to prepare yourself, we wouldn’t want this to be _unfair_ , now would we?”

This was said in a slow and mocking drawl, but Harry ignored it. There were only three spells he wanted to cast before things really got going, if she was going to let him do it without worrying about being punted across the arena, then he would take it.

The first, _Corpus Sine Dolore_ , so he would feel no pain.

The second, _Reparo Infinito_ , so his clothes wouldn’t be ripped to shreds. That would be embarrassing.

And finally, _Gravitas Cincinno_ , so he wouldn’t be thrown around the arena. That wouldn’t be ideal for a number of reasons.

Only the last spell had any obvious outwards effects as a white light flashed briefly beneath his feet before Harry felt his body lock to the land he was standing on. Unfortunately he wouldn’t be able to move from this spot while it was active, which limited a fair bit of what he could do, but any more would be overkill.

“Are you done, _Master_?” The mocking edge on his title was kind of unnecessary, Harry felt.

Still, he was ready for the beginning of the battle, which in Harry’s case was all about screwing with morale. It also had the side benefit of letting him see some of what his opponents could do before he really got started.

“Do what you can.”

Harry swept a hand out in front of him before settling in a relaxed pose with his hands behind his back, a placid smile on his face.

Let the psychological warfare begin.

“You dare underestimate me after I graciously gave you time to prepare?!”

Malice dripped from every word. In a split second, her mocking demeanour collapsed around her. Shalltear appeared truly enraged. Her weapon shook with her fury as she swept her weapon back, crouching low to the ground.

“I’ll show you!”

And then she disappeared, a crack of sound and a gust of wind the only warning he had before she crashed into him, her weapon piercing his abdomen.

Harry was forced to slightly curl over it, but he wasn’t thrown as he knew he would be normally, considering he’s facing a vampire. In a fight of strength he would never come out on top against most inhuman beings.

A dark inhuman laugh slipped from between her fanged teeth as he felt his life-force draining, he expected to see his blood appear in the liquid section of her weapon, but instead it flooded with light as Shalltear ripped it out of him and leaped back.

“This is going to end quickly if you just stand there and let me stab you, _insect_!”

Harry straightened up, shook out his clothes and settled back in his original pose. He knew that there was no injury on himself and his clothes had already repaired.

Despite that, he was slightly surprised that she seemed unsurprised by it. Normally people were at least slightly taken aback when what should have been a fatal wound was healed without a problem.

Interesting.

“Please continue, I’m curious about what you can do.”

Harry stated this amiably, being completely truthful, but unsurprisingly Shalltear took it for mockery. Letting out another scream of rage, she rocketed across the field. Between one heart beat and another she was suddenly in front him. The lance blurred, plunging into his chest, head and stomach, over and over again. This time she didn’t stop stabbing him; her lance striking almost too fast for him to register. It was only after the second blow went right through his head and he remained standing that she seemed to really register that something was off and leapt back.

Once again he straightened from where he had braced himself while she rained blows down on him, unruffling his clothes and swiping a hand through his hair before settling back into his almost customary pose.

“Is that all you can do?”

He was a bit disappointed, for all the hype he had thought she might have a few more tricks up her sleeve.

He fully expected her to react with more rage, but instead she seemed to be evaluating him with a bit more care. A cold, critical eye scoured over him.

“Why didn’t that affect you? Even a Supreme Being should be showing some damage by now.”

Showing damage by now? That was an interesting way to phrase it.

Then her eyes flashed once, twice, and her jaw dropped. Slowly she looked around him, then up, and up, and up.

“By the 41…how much mana do you _have_?”

Mana? Is that what they called magic here? She must have activated some form of mage sight, although there were two flashes, what was the first?

As if reading his thoughts her gaze flickered back and forth between his immaculate clothes and just above his head. At the same time Harry saw a couple flashes amongst the audience in the stands as they clearly activated the same spells she had. They weren’t far enough away that he couldn’t see their surprised faces as they all looked up like Shalltear had.

“You’re not damaged at all, how is that possible?”

Her voice cracked, shock coming through. Did one of the sight spells she activated allow her to evaluate physical damage? That was quite different. Far away, in the back of his mind, he felt his curiosity begin to kindle. Different was not something that happened very often. How did it work? And why would you need it? Surely a lethal blow was still deadly no matter who you performed it on? But it would explain why she hadn’t been shocked by his fatal blows healing, or even his clothes repairing. How did this dimension even work? He had never seen anything like it.

“It’s one of those ridiculous perks of being the Master of Death. You can’t kill me, no matter how hard you try.”

 _Unless I want you to_ , he couldn’t help thinking.

He tried to sound a bit sympathetic, but wasn’t really sure it came across. This was the reality all beings had to come to terms with when fighting him. Slowly, blow by blow, the crushing realisation you cannot win would set in. Even if it hadn’t gone quite how he had it expected it to, he had won this psychological war before the battle had ever started.

“That can’t be true. Perhaps you just have insane regeneration, in which case I simply have to damage you faster than you can heal!”

Despite her words, Shalltear looked shaken. Her knuckles were white where she gripped her lance, and her eyes roved over him, searching for a weakness to exploit. Which was exactly what Harry was aiming for; this was supposed to be a show of his abilities after all. Or at least some of them. Enough to prove he would be an adequate, technically undefeatable leader. Harry didn’t really enjoy fighting anymore, there wasn’t really a point, what with being who and what he was. Still, sometimes situations came up where it was necessary.

“Summon Household!”

Another pair of bat like wings exploded from her back, flaring out around her. Throughout the chamber, the shadows bent towards the light. Stretching and crawling their way like blackened fingers towards Shalltear. Beneath her feet creatures of darkness emerged, bats and rats and wolves, all with red eyes surrounding her in the hundreds. Tension shook the air as they trembled, waiting upon her command. She didn’t say anything next, but a white amorphous blob formed in front of her, stretching and transforming until a pure white version of Shalltear stood before her, smirking at him.

“Now that’s more like it.” Harry couldn’t help murmuring before raising a hand, “Would you mind stopping for a moment.”

To his slight surprise she actually did, though he could see it had thrown her off a bit, which was a nice side benefit.

Turning his attention to the stands where the six semi-leaders where watching, Harry called out to them,

“Is it alright if I kill her?”

There was a brief shocked silence, even Shalltear didn’t have anything to say to that, before Demiurge’s dry reply sounded across the arena.

“We would prefer it if you didn’t,” he responded, then continued slightly more seriously, “That being said, if you do, we do have a way to revive her, although it is costly. And in the event you do kill her, it would be up to you as our leader whether we pay that cost.”  
There was another moment of silence before -

“Good luck!”

This was shouted by the winged female, which prompted one of the young twin elves, the one holding what appeared to be a sentient human foetus with eyes, a halo and stick wings, to turn on her and start berating her, though they were slightly too far to make out any words.

“Hey! Don’t root for him Albedo!”

That was from Shalltear, who had actually turned her back on him and was raising a fist at the winged female, Albedo, who responded by laughing whilst holding back the twin with one hand on his forehead.

“You haven’t managed to damage him and he hasn’t even moved a step from where he started yet Shalltear! I know a Supreme Being when I see one!”

Shalltear swung back at that, her eyes moving to his feet, as if just registering that he hadn’t actually moved an inch since the whole ‘fight’ began. In fact, looking at him, Harry knew, there was literally nothing to show that they had been fighting at all.

Smirking slightly Harry rolled his shoulders, still standing casually,

“I’ll give you a few more blows, then I feel I should warn you that I’ll start fighting back.”

Her eyes widening, Shalltear leapt back, placing her army between them.

He kind of appreciated that she was taking him a bit more seriously.

Raising a hand to point at the sky, Shalltear cried out, “Household! Einherjar! Attack!” At the same time, energy cracked and danced between her fingers. An arrow of light formed above her hand, and with a cry of “Purifying Lance!” it flew from her fingertips and across the field, striking him in the chest. Her army were right behind it. Converging on him with fangs and claws, they ripped at him. In seconds he was covered in writhing tearing shadows. Above the sound of snarling animals and the Einherjar tearing into him, Harry could hear ‘Purifying Lance!’, one after another after another, his body rocking with each hit.

Ok. This was enough.

Struggling to free his arm from a very determined wolf, Harry swept it outwards, _Fluctus Inpulsa_ , sending out a shockwave of air which flung all the creatures back a fair distance, some even disappearing upon impact with the ground.

Slowly straightening once more, Harry dusted off his clothes and then shot a grin at Shalltear,

“My turn.”

Spreading his arms Harry gestured around him, transfiguring almost all of the dirt covering the arena floor into wooden stakes, so tightly packed he couldn’t see the ground beneath them. Silently, he cast _Wingardium Leviosa_ followed immediately by _Scopum Motus_. Immediately every stake nearest to the shadow hoard, Shalltear, and the Einherjar shuddered and shot out of the ground towards them.

Shalltear and her Einherjar were fast enough to shatter the ones aimed at them, but all around them were wisps of smoke as the shadow animals disappeared in a rain of deadly wooden projectiles.

As soon as she noticed, Shalltear seemed to lose all the hesitation she had had previously. She and her Einherjar shot up into the air and then towards him, only to have to abruptly attempt to retreat as every stake they had flown over shot straight at them.

“You’re a vampire, aren’t you?” Harry asked, “Let’s see how true to form you are!”

Focusing, he began to direct wave after wave of stakes at them. The onslaught was unending, seeking cracks in their defence. Even with his help, the vast majority of the stakes were shattered by the two women as they swung their lances with lightning speed and inhuman strength. Still, they couldn’t get them all. Harry watched dispassionately as a few stakes broke through to slam into Shalltear and her Einherjar both, each blow creeping closer until one finally found Shalltear’s heart.

Releasing a cry of pain Shalltear dropped the few feet to the ground below her, both herself and her Einherjar having retreated beyond the rows of stakes still between them and Harry.

As Harry had kind of expected, she didn’t go up in flames or turn to dust at what should have been a mortal wound to a vampire. As he watched, she gripped the stake and pulled it from her chest, the sucking sound it made audible even at this distance. She then proceeded to pull the other stakes from her abdomen, arms and legs, her Einherjar doing the same.

“You _worm_. I’ll destroy you for this.” Shalltear spat, glaring at him. Her blood red eyes gleamed with vicious excitement. He could sense her bloodlust from where he stood.

“I’m sure you will.” Harry responded, letting his tone be condescending.

Reaching out a hand towards him, Shalltear let out a truly vicious grin, “Let’s see how you handle this then! Maximise Magic, Brilliant Radiance!”

To his surprise, a light blue spell matrix formed in front of her hand, and then abruptly Harry was surrounded by a maelstrom of light, tangible and so bright that it hurt to have his eyes open even as it somehow cut into him repeatedly. For a few long moments he stood still, his body buffeted with each hit, I should probably do something about this. He had hardly finished the thought when the spell stopped. Looking down at himself, Harry was unsurprised to see numerous wounds and tears in his clothing healing and repairing all over his body. Turning his gaze to the ground, Harry saw that he was now surrounded by an alarming amount of splatters of his own blood, directed outwards like knives or swords had cut through him in all directions.

That was an interesting spell.

Looking to Shalltear, Harry saw that she was glowing lightly green and her wounds were closing rapidly. Thankfully her Einherjar didn’t seem able to do the same thing, instead she was steadily but slowly making her way towards him, clearing a path as the stakes nearest to her shot towards her and were promptly shattered to splinters. She seemed to have started along the path they had flown before, so she was more than halfway to him already.

Alright then.

Directing his hands at both women, Harry fired a couple _Bombarda Maxima’s_ , forcing them both to dodge as the spells impacted the ground and walls with cacophonous explosions. The Einherjar had been forced to dodge into more stakes, but continued to methodically destroy them without issue. Shalltear on the other hand had swung around the spell and then seemed to disappear once again, reappearing at the end of the path her Einherjar had created. Raising a hand she cried out, “Maximise Magic, Force Explosion!”

A number of purple shockwaves flew from her hands, shattering the remaining stakes separating her from Harry.

Fuck.

Quickly forming his hands into fists with his index and pointer finger extended, Harry cast _Flagellum Aqua_. Stretching out from the ends of his fingers two long whips of water appeared.The faintest glimmer of a smile touched his face as he cast _Sanctus_ to make the water Holy, and finally _Ulcus_ for added measure. Because if he was going to have whips of Holy Water, they may as well be boiling whips of Holy Water.

Then he had to brace himself because he spent too long casting and Shalltear and her Einherjar both hit him like a train. He may have cast the Gravity Lock spell back in the beginning, but even it could keep him upright through only so much. He felt it as the bones in his legs broke, thankfully still with no pain, and his body slammed backwards into the ground with both Shalltears and the Einherjar’s lances punching through his chest.

Again their lances lit up, though this time Harry was able to see as the Einherjar’s wounds healed because of it. That was the trick then. As they hurt him, they would heal. So he just needed to avoid letting them stab him, or else this fight was going to drag on forever. That being said, he had more pressing problems right now.

Lashing his hands across his body, his Holy Water whips struck both woman across the chest and face. Releasing a cry of pain Shalltear leapt backwards, the Einherjars mouth opening in a silent scream as she did the same.

Harry couldn’t tell if it was because the water was boiling or holy or both that it had affected them so badly. Didn’t matter. Whipping his hands through the air, he forced them both to retreat as the water whips whistled past them, narrowly missing them.

With a second of breathing room, Harry released one of the whips before raising his hand to his chest and casting _Cor Prohibere_ , to temporarily stop his own heart. As always, there was a brief moment where he became very aware that his heart had stopped beating, and then it started again as his upper body was forced upright, the Gravity Lock spell catching him again as his legs healed beneath him.

It was a frustrating reality that his body only healed if someone inflicted a mortal injury on him. It had also lead to some pretty messed up situations in the past. There was a major reason, beyond the obvious, that he was very, very against torture.

“Fuck me, you girls hit hard.” Harry stated, only to have a cut off laugh sound behind him. Swinging his whip in an arc around himself, he glanced over his shoulder to see that Shalltear and her Einherjar had come around behind him while he was distracted, though now they were pushed back into stakes again.

Time to escalate things a bit. For what he wanted to do next, he would need to buy himself a bit of breathing room.

Around him stakes were almost exploding into pieces as both women made a beeline towards him. They had gotten the hang of destroying them incredibly quickly. By this point, the stakes weren’t much more than a bit of a distraction, never mind that at least half the arena floor was still covered in them.

Bringing his hand up to his mouth, Harry exhaled.  
” _Fiendfyre_.”  
A gout of flame roared from between his lips, growing in seconds into an inferno. From within the blaze hundreds of birds swarmed forth, threatening to set him alight before launching themselves at Shalltear and her Einherjar. Darting between his birds and the Einherjar, Shalltear thrust out a hand, “Negative Impact Shield”, a wall of shadow flowing between her and the fire birds, an alarming amount of the birds snuffing out on impact. The rest swung around, surrounding both women, who shot into the air, the flames chasing behind them like a fiery trail.

While the women were distracted, Harry swept a hand out, casting a _Protego Maxima_ over the stands, not wanting their audience to get injured with what he intended for the finale. In one hand he conjured a ritual cup, placing it on the ground and getting ready to start one of his less used rituals, only to be distracted himself as there was a shockwave far above him followed by a voice bellowing,

“You like fire, do you?”

Looking up, Harry could see the Einherjar sweeping her blade through the fire birds, destroying them and protecting Shalltear as she growled, raising a hand with her palm towards him, “I’ll give you fire! Maximise Magic, Vermillion Nova!”

Oh shit, a maroon spell matrix formed in front of her hand and then he was abruptly on fire. Suddenly very thankful that he cast a spell to prevent himself feeling pain, Harry looked down himself where his clothes and flesh were burning down to the bone at the onslaught, his ritual cup now so much molten slag. This time he knew to wait it out, and sure enough, a few seconds later the flames just as abruptly disappeared and he felt his muscles, veins, skin, hair and finally clothes reform.

That was kind of alarming.

Gazing up from where he had been examining his hands, Harry eyed Shalltear, who was surprisingly also looking a bit disturbed as she and her Einherjar finished off the remaining fire birds. Clearly, he was going to have to try harder to distract them if he wanted to buy time for himself.

“That was kind of distressing, I’m not going to lie.” Harry stated.

“Don’t you have any kind of defence against fire?” Shalltear asked, looking him over. “Elemental spells normally only react like that when someone has literally no protection against that particular element. Dependant on what the element is, of course.”

“Of course.” Harry murmured, before raising his voice so she could hear, “No. I haven’t seen a spell like that before. If someone tries to use a certain element against me, I normally have time to prepare a defence before it hits. The magic in your world is certainly interesting.”

“Thank you,” she responded, a small smile forming seemingly against her will.

“Sorry, I got a bit distracted by that. Shall we continue?” He asked, extending a hand outwards like a gentleman.

Her small smile expanding into a proper grin, Shalltear and her Einherjar seemed to crouch in the air far above him.  
“Lets.”

With that she launched herself toward him, coming in from his left while the Einherjar came from his right. She seemed to have slowed down for some reason, as he could actually see her coming this time. Maybe giving herself time to respond?

Either way, Harry needed some time if he wanted to perform his ritual, so flinging out his hands he again sent out a _Fluctus Inpulsa_ , sending both women flying backwards. Capitalising on their momentary disorientation Harry spared a moment to think before sweeping both hands out and up, conjuring four stone goliaths around him. Standing at full height, each giant stared down at their opponents, earthen blades held at the ready. Quickly casting _Physicorum_ to make them unbreakable, then _Piertotum Locomotor_ to animate them, and finally he lit their swords on fire, partially to be a dick and also as a bit of payback for that firestorm spell.

Around him the giants came to life, raising their flaming swords in his defence, two of them swinging outwards to guard against the two vampires who had been coming cautiously closer.

Not wasting any time Harry conjured another ritual cup and a knife, placing the cup on the ground he quickly dragged the knife through the dirt around the cup, inscribing a ritual circle and a number of runes into the dirt around it. Glancing up at the knights around him swinging their swords at the two women launching attacks around him he tried to ignore it even as his hair and clothes were swept, the ground shaking under their blows as the sweeping attacks of the knights clashed with Shalltear and her clone.

Finally ready, Harry held his wrist directly above the cup and then drew the blade across the back of his hand. Gruesome, but necessary. He waited as his blood collected in the groove going through the blade, and then as the first drop fell into the cup Harry started chanting.

He hadn’t performed a ritual like this in ages. Most wouldn’t recommend it, especially during battle, as you’d invariably suffer a swift and inevitable death. That wasn’t something that Harry really needed to worry about though.

As his chanting continued the blood flow quickened, seemingly pulled from the wound into the bottomless cup. Above them thunderclouds, black and ominous coalesced, growing larger every second, rapidly blocking out the sky above them. The edges of his vision blurred and cleared, over and over again, as the ritual drained his life-blood. Around him the fighting had died down. Harry couldn’t see them, but he assumed Shalltear and her Einherjar had stopped to watch the oncoming storm.

Just as Harry stopped the ritual words, there was a sharp burst of light and a clap of thunder before rain started thundering down, sliding over his Protego on the crowd but almost immediately soaking everything else. Harry stemmed the flow of blood and then smirked before casting _Sanctus_ and _Ulcus_ on the blood left in the cup.

From beyond his Goliaths Harry could hear a shout as steam started to fill the arena, the now boiling and holy rain undoubtedly hitting both her and her doppelganger. The rain wouldn’t kill them, but it would hurt, and it wouldn’t stop. In the brief glimpses he could catch of Shalltear between the goliaths he could already see her visible skin turning red under the downpour. Glancing at himself he could see the same happening to him, but it hardly mattered, it’s not like he could feel it.

Just one more step to go, and then this fight was over.

There was a clash from two directions, both Shalltear and her Einherjar trying to break through to him, no doubt hoping to end the fight quickly before the burning rain hurt them too badly, but the goliaths got between them.

Raising his hand to the roiling sky directly above him Harry took a moment to remember the spell, it had been a very long time, before shouting, “ _Parva Solis Crescente_!”

From the edges of his fingertips light flared before shooting into the sky. Stopping just below the clouds it flared and twisted, turning into flames that spun and danced before coalescing into a ball the size of a watermelon. All around him the arena lit up, rainbows forming and dissipating in the rain, the small sun he had created bringing everything into sharp relief.

There was another momentary pause around him, but when the sun didn’t immediately do anything beyond light up the arena, Shalltear and her Einherjar went back to trying to get through to him. As he had kind of expected, sunlight didn’t negatively affect them. Of course, that wasn’t the end of this particular spell. It just took a little while to ramp up.

Briefly halting his Gravity Lock spell Harry sat down cross-legged, leaning back on his hands before allowing the spell to resume, the ground below him lighting up as he was once again locked into place.

Now all he had to do was wait.

From around him there were booms and clangs, his goliaths continuously getting between him, Shalltear and her Einherjar. They may be huge and made of stone, but that didn’t stop them from being incredibly fast. The ground shook under him with each step they took and each blow they blocked. They weren’t doing anything to attack the women, just pushing them back repeatedly. Harry could change that, but why bother? Already he could feel it getting hotter, his small sun getting slightly bigger with each moment that passed.

From somewhere to his left there was a shout of frustration and rage as Shalltear was blocked again, and then a streak of white shot up, trying to get above and dive bomb him again while the goliaths were distracted with Shalltear. Of course this time there was something else above him.

He could practically see it when the growing gravity well around his sun caught the Einherjar, her movements abruptly slowing down as she tried to fly towards him. He could see her struggling, her body an arrow pointed directly at him, her face a mask of concentration, but slowly she stopped moving and then, then she started drifting backwards.

“What’s happening?!”

Shalltear flew up slightly, but even she wasn’t stupid enough to get too close to her clone. As they watched her Einherjar stated picking up speed, the gravity well increasing with the heat, before she was finally dragged backwards directly into his sun.

There was a moment where it didn’t seem like anything would happen, then her mouth opened in a silent scream, her back arching as she almost instantly vaporised.

Harry could see Shalltears wide-eyed stare as she looked at where her doppelganger had been before she swung her gaze to Harry.

“What by Yggdrasil is _that_?!”

He didn’t answer. This fight was practically over. By this point Harry could feel a light tug on his body, if his hair and clothes weren’t soaked through he knew that they would be drifting upwards as well.

Shalltear clearly felt the tug as well, as she rapidly flew backwards to the edge of the arena. It wouldn’t help her. This spell was useless in most fights, but the ones where the combatants were trapped in a small area? Well that changed things. Even if she tried to flee the arena floor, Harry’s Protego Maxima was creating a barrier all around the edges, protecting the crowds from both the sun and the rain. She couldn’t get past it, not when its edges went from floor to ceiling.

Now that he had a moment Harry looked upwards, the clouds were blocking his view but he remembered the sky there. He had honestly thought he was outside, but apparently not. He hadn’t seen an enchantment like that in a very, very long time. It kind of made him nostalgic.

Around him his goliaths started to drift upwards, the gravity having increased to the point where even their significant weight couldn’t hold them down any longer. Just like the Einherjar before them, they initially rose slowly before picking up speed and finally colliding with the significantly bigger sun, instantly vaporizing all of them. By this point, Harry could feel his body straining upwards, the only thing keeping him in his casual sitting position being the Gravity Lock spell.

Looking to Shalltear, Harry could see how she was clinging to one of the walls of the arena, her fingers leaving deep grooves in the rock as her body slowly lifted up, the gravity well having grown enough to reach her.

“Do you forfeit?” Harry called, smirking when she responded by letting go with one hand in order to send another Purifying Lance at him, the blow striking him in the chest but otherwise doing nothing. Well, nothing to him. On her part Shalltear slipped, her grip not strong enough with only one hand, and then she started to drift upwards, clearly straining against it but unable to stop.

And then she surprised him as she turned to face the sun, her posture relaxing and a broad genuine smile crossing her face as her pace increased. She would hit the sun in mere moments, but he could already see that she would rather die than state her defeat.

“You win!”

A voice shouted from the stands and instantly Harry ended the spell, Shalltear hurtling through the place where the sun had been an instant before.

Looking to the stands Harry could see the 7 leaders all standing, anxiously looking to where Shalltear had caught herself mid-air. Slowly she drifted down, her feet touching the ground before she collapsed to her knees, her visible skin badly burned, panting for each breath.

Releasing the Gravity Lock spell Harry stood, vanishing the ritual cup and then sending a cleaning spell followed by a healing spell over himself as the skies stopped pouring, the clouds dissipating at an unnatural rate. The mud on his clothes vanished as the burns all over him quickly faded.

Looking at his audience again, Harry could see them all looking between him and Shalltear, unable to move until he released the Protego. Raising a hand he let the barrier drop, immediately allowing the leaders to move towards where Shalltear was still slumped, her panting having slowed. Slowly she looked up, her eyes meeting his across the arena floor. A grin gradually grew over her face, getting larger and larger until she was abruptly bending over, laughing.

A small grin crossed his own face as he watched her laugh, all those in the stands coming to once more surround him, the seven leaders standing by Shalltears laughing form.

“Was that the fight you were looking for?” Harry asked as Shalltears laughter tapered off, her burnt face once more raising to look at him. As an afterthought Harry cast a healing charm over her, Shalltear flinching slightly as the burns covering her receded until she was once more completely unharmed.

“Yes, I believe so.” Demiurge murmured as they all watched Shalltear touch her cheek gingerly before rising to stand between him and Albedo. Her eyes never left Harry, her lips curled into a slight grin, fangs catching the light.

“That was a glorious fight Master.” She stated, her eyes travelling over him, “There was truly no way I could win, was there?” She questioned softly, speaking more to herself then Harry.

“No, not really.” Harry replied anyway.

“Hmmm…then thank you. For humouring me. Us.” She stated, glancing at those around them, before raising her voice, “Truly, despite being human I could see you as someone worth serving.”

There was a slight susurrus of whispers around them at that, Harry glancing around himself as well, seeing all the thoughtful looks. There were a few who still seemed a bit reluctant, but ultimately they all seemed to have been won over by the fight.

“Yes, well that was the purpose of the fight. I have no objections. Albedo?” Demiurge asked, pushing his glasses up with a finger and glancing past Shalltear at Albedo.

On her part she smiled wide, clasping her hands before her chest, “As I said before, I recognise a Supreme Being when I see one. Regardless of your race, I would be happy to serve you Master Harry.”

“Any objections?” Demiurge raised his voice, turning partially to include the crowd around them.

Only silence answered his question and Demiurge smiled properly for the first time since Harry had arrived. “Very well then. It seems we are in agreement, we shall all pledge allegiance to Master Harry. Unless you have objections of your own Master?”

Demiurge asked this as he turned to him, hands clasped behind his back, his pose completely attentive. It was a fairly drastic turnaround from when they last spoke, Harry couldn’t help raising his eyebrow at the other man before tilting his head and running over some of the things they needed to discuss.

“I wouldn’t mind leading you, but there are some things we have to clarify first. Number one on the list, what is it exactly that you all are looking for in a leader?”

“Of course Master. We are simply looking for someone whom we may serve in whatever endeavour they wish to undertake. No matter what that endeavour may be.” Demiurge replied.

Harry thought that over for a moment. If that was all they were looking for, then it really shouldn’t be difficult for him to lead them. In theory. In practice, all he really wanted to do was, well –

“All I really want to do while here is study this dimension and the people within it.” Harry stated, not letting any hesitation show. Really, it sounded like he would be a pretty boring person to serve, especially for such a large –

“Then we shall put all our considerable resources and forces behind your studies.” Demiurge stated blandly, sounding completely unconcerned.

Harry was a bit taken aback by that. Considering how against him they were in the beginning, it was becoming rapidly clear that they had already decided they wanted him as a leader and were treating him as such. Looking around at the others, the leaders had all taken on similar attentive poses, while the rest were practically standing at attention.

“Do you have any other concerns Master?” Demiurge asked, smirking slightly, clearly having seen what Harry was thinking.

At that Harry released a slight sigh, because on their end their terms were incredibly simple. On Harry’s behalf, considering who and what they were, his terms were going to be a bit more stringent, and may not be received well.

“Yes, there is a slight problem on my end.” At those words, those around him somehow managed to look even more attentive and also slightly worried. “As you have all repeatedly pointed out, I am human. I have different ethical standards than you all do. If I do lead you, I will not abide by cold-blooded murder, torture, assault or unprovoked harm of any kind.”

There was another drawn out moment of silence in response to this before Demiurge cleared his throat, coughing slightly, Albedo and Shalltear cringing almost imperceptibly.

“Yes well…that could be a slight problem.” Demiurge stated, looking hesitant. “Do you mean no matter the circumstances? Or…” He, for once, seemed a bit at a loss for words.

“To some extent. I don’t mind you killing or harming in self-defence or defence of others who can’t defend themselves, but the rest? There is never a circumstance in which I abide by torture, or assaulting others. Even if you were defending yourselves, if the harm you cause goes above and beyond what is necessary to stop someone attacking you or someone else, then I will not be very happy. And that will usually mean a swift and possibly permanent response on my behalf.”

Harry felt he had to be especially clear here. This was a group of beings whose morals very clearly deviated from his own, and they wished to serve him in whatever he may require. He was already getting an idea of how efficient this group would be, and what lengths they would go to in order to complete their orders. If he didn’t lay out rules now, rules they would have to agree to before agreeing to serve him, then it would probably only end in misunderstandings that would lead to blood and probably death.

Better to draw his lines in the sand now and make sure they understood that he would not abide them crossing those lines, ever.

“That is slightly more reasonable.” Demiurge murmured to himself before glancing at Shalltear and Albedo, then the others around them. “May we have a moment to discuss this?” He asked, to which Harry nodded and gestured for them to go ahead.

As soon as he had acquiesced they, one and all, moved away from him a fair distance, grouping together and talking amongst themselves. Harry couldn’t hear them, but he could see that the vast majority were just listening as the leaders talked back and forth amongst themselves.

It took a short while, but honestly not nearly as long as Harry was really expecting, for them to obviously reach a conclusion. Making their way back over towards him Harry looked them over, trying to see what conclusions they had reached, but most were blank faced or inscrutable and before long they were once more arrayed around and before him.

“It seems we are all in agreement.” Demiurge stated before placing a fist over his heart and bowing over it, everyone in the crowd doing something similar. “If you will have us, then we will abide by your rules Master Harry. We only ask that if a situation is ever in doubt, you clarify for us, so that we may avoid any unfortunate misunderstandings.”

Looking out over all the bowing beings Harry couldn’t help the smile that crossed his face.

“Then we are in agreement. I shall lead you to the best of my abilities, and you shall obey my rules and serve me in whatever endeavour I hope to accomplish.”

Spreading his arms Harry finally stepped out of the ritual circle, feeling the binding magic of a contract accepted flowing over him. “I look forward to leading you all!”


	4. Interlude - Demiurge

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all, thanks for your patience in waiting for the next chapter. I could not decide what I wanted to come next, and how to portray it. It was some pretty hectic writers block. Finally I just decided to essentially do a small Interlude to see if I could get the ball rolling again and it seems to have worked, thankfully. I can't promise updates will be regular, because I am a human dumpster fire in rl and that's clearly not going to change anytime soon. Still, I figured this is better than nothing. I'm quite pleased how it all worked out. The next chapter will probably be a bunch of character introductions and the beginning of some proper interactions and the one after that we will finally get to Carne Village. If all goes well anyway. Enjoy!

They all moved a fair distance away from Master Harry to have their discussion, the various Floor Guardians forming a loose circle with the rest of the denizens of Nazarick ranged around them as they contemplated Master Harry’s words.

Demiurge looked around, letting the silence rest for a few long moments before letting out a quiet sigh and straightening, gaining everyone’s attention. It was still a little unnerving how everyone turned to him, and Albedo, to lead them. It didn’t feel right, determining their futures, but the Supreme Beings had left and someone had had to step up in their absence. In the end, that had been Albedo by virtue of the fact she was the Overseer of the Floor Guardians, and later Demiurge as well, due to his finding of the ritual.

“This does complicate matters slightly. What are everyone’s thoughts?” Demiurge asked, deciding to hear the other’s opinions on the matter before weighing in himself.

“I mean, we knew he was human, I don’t feel like this changes much. Did you see that fight? He’s the strongest Supreme Being I’ve ever seen! Not even Lord Momonga could have fought and killed Shalltear without getting a scratch or moving an inch.” Albedo sounded certain, her hands clasped in front of her chest, a manic smile spreading across her cheeks. From around them there were a few murmurs of agreement as well as some of dissatisfaction, but Demiurge could see the Floor Guardians considering her words seriously, though Shalltear did pout slightly, looking away and grumbling under her breath.

“I don’t really care, it’s not like I really like hurting humans anyway, and Master Harry doesn’t care if we defend ourselves. That’s the important part, right Mare?” Aura rocked on her heels, glancing at her brother who ducked his head and let out a stuttering, “Y-yeah.”

Demiurge nodded before glancing at the remaining Floor Guardians, “And you Shalltear? Victim? Cocytus?”

“ **I don’t care. We said we would serve Master Harry if he defeated Shalltear and he has. He has my loyalty**.” That was the expected response from Cocytus.

“He will be a good leader.” Victim’s response wasn’t a surprise either.

To be honest, the only two of the Floor Guardians who would truly have issues with Master Harry’s demands were himself and Shalltear. Demiurge had known that before asking, but it was good to hear their thoughts anyway, as well as letting the other denizens hear where they stood and why.

Shalltear glanced back at Master Harry before looking at them, her eyes alight and a fanged grin appearing, “I think it’s going to be a bit of a problem, but I don’t care. That fight was spectacular, I would happily bend to whatever Master Harry wishes.” And then she raised her hands to her mouth and let out an unsurprising _ohhohhoh_ , her cheeks dusting pink as she glanced back again.

They all stared at her for a moment, used to this behaviour when it came to the Supreme Beings, but not when that being was a human who had nearly vaporised her. Though considering that, perhaps it wasn’t surprising at all. Shalltear deeply admired those who could best her, since it happened so rarely. They all did really.

“And you Demiurge? Do you think you can handle never torturing anyone again? Never putting the humans in their place?” Albedo asked this quietly, watching him seriously.

Demiurge stopped to think about it, looking off into the distance. Would he be able to handle it? He thought of having humans at his mercy, crying on their knees, the light in their eyes fading as they realised there was no mercy to be had. He thought of their blood and the smell of their fear. He thought of never hearing even one beg and cry and scream ever again.

Then he thought of not having a leader, of having the others continue looking to Albedo and him for orders, of not knowing what they should _do_.

Grimacing Demiurge admitted, “I am unsure. I know not all of you have the same tastes that Shalltear and I do, but that doesn’t mean a fair number of us aren’t going to have to curb our instincts, our _desires_. Master Harry mentioned ethics, and morals. I understand what he meant intellectually, but were I put in a difficult position I’m not sure I would be able to know which is the right choice. I also wont lie to you, part of me _rails_ at the thought of having to obey someone who prioritises such.”

Sighing he looked to the other Floor Guardians, who were all watching him understandingly, and then to the others ranged around them. A number looked relieved that he had brought it up. He was by far not the only amongst them who hesitated strongly at the thought of never getting to have any _fun_ again.

Yet…

“Yet, that does not change the fact we need a leader, and Master Harry is certainly a far better choice than we all initially realised. We would be fools to pass up this opportunity, regardless of the sacrifices we would have to make.”

There were grimaces from quite a few in the crowd, but also understanding.

“Maybe there’s a compromise we can reach.” Albedo said, raising her voice to include everyone in this decision, tipping her chin up and glancing over them all with a smirk, “I know many of you would struggle with the thought of swearing loyalty to a human, even if he _is_ a Supreme Being, even if he is the strongest we have ever seen. That doesn’t change how different he is, that he is _human_ and we are going to have to deal with all that means. So instead of swearing loyalty, as we gladly have for our Supreme Beings, why don’t we instead swear to _serve_.”

There was a ringing silence at her words for a few long moments before whispers burst out amongst the crowd. Demiurge found himself blinking, staring at Albedo, along with the other Floor Guardians.

She let the talking continue for a short while before speaking once more, “It will essentially mean the same thing, we will still serve Master Harry as faithfully as our beloved 41, but he is asking much of us. We do not know if he will be as perfect a leader as the others, he has not earned our loyalty yet, and his rules infringe upon who we were _made_ to be. So we will serve, and if he proves himself, then we can swear our loyalty when we deem him worthy. It still means that we will obey his rules, but he is asking us to curb our very natures, judging us for who we are, it only seems fair to judge him in return!”

There was a change in the atmosphere as those around them let out sounds of agreement. Demiurge found himself smiling, glancing at Albedo as she grinned around at everyone. There was a reason she was the Overseer and not himself, she was far better with large crowds then he could ever be. He was better on an individual level, he knew. Yet even he, who easily saw through the manipulations in her speech, found his pride being soothed by the thought of waiting to give his loyalty to Master Harry until he knew he deserved it, regardless of the knowledge that ultimately there was no difference between serving faithfully and serving loyally. Not to the denizens of Nazarick anyway.

Clapping his hands together he looked out over the crowd as silence fell.

“Then are we all in agreement? We shall swear to serve, and shall do so as faithfully as we have to the 41, until such time as Master Harry has proven he is _worthy_ of our loyalty. In return we will obey in all things, no matter what is asked of us.”

There were cries of agreement and when Demiurge glanced around the Floor Guardians his only response were smiles and nods. Unable to help himself he smirked in return. Yes, this meant making changes that he wasn’t sure he would easily be able to live with, but in return they gained a leader who was _strong_ , technically undefeatable, and unlike the other 41 this one shouldn’t be able to leave. Not unless they wanted him to.

Spreading his hands he turned back to Master Harry, glancing over his shoulder at all those loyal to Nazarick arrayed behind him, “Then let us go pledge our _service_.”

Stepping forward towards his soon-to-be Master, Demiurge couldn’t help the dark edge his smirk gained, allowing it to linger for a moment before stifling it. He may be willing to obey Master Harry’s orders in all things, but that didn’t mean those orders couldn’t _change_. And Demiurge knew he could be very, _very_ persuasive, if he wished to be.

He would simply have to persuade Master Harry to see things his way.


End file.
